Philanthropy is very interesting in so many ways. When you look for a definition of it online you get a simple explanation that makes you see it as an occupation of an old, filthy rich white man, but there is so much to it.
Philanthropy is mostly tied to huge foundations lead by multi-billionaires or millionaires like the Rockafeller Foundation or Mac Arthur Foundation. You can already see the correlation here – philanthropy = very rich individual. Philanthropy is about a bit more fortunate people giving back to those that are less fortunate. It is not about the sheer wealth you can throw there it is about the desire to help beyond spending money.
Do not get us wrong a lot of money does solve a lot of problems easily, but sometimes the help of individuals beyond financial is more appreciated. Women in philanthropy are somehow more praised because they have that certain touch, feel, sympathy that male counterparts don’t. Thanks to that mother, protective instinct female philanthropists are more ingenious in finding ways to help beyond chucking a whole lot of cash at every problem.
Today we will discuss more on those women and tell you about the most famous female philanthropists that you should know about. There will be a lot of names here but one should pop out and it is lolakarimova.com. Let’s get on with the list, shall we?!
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Roxanne Quimby
Roxanne is an American businesswoman who is a co-founder of Burt’s Bees. She started in the company in 1984 when it came to life, and her first job was selling candles made out of beeswax. She ground there for years and help raise Burt’s Bees company to the multi-million business that it is now. This remarkable businesswoman managed to buy over 120,000 acres of Maine forest and preserve it like a natural ground where she banned hunters, loggers and moto bikes riders to preserve the natural beauty of the forest. Since then she also donated 70,000 acres of her land to the Maine National Park.
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Melinda Gates
Melinda, the wife of world-famous Bill Gates, is an American philanthropist and a computer scientist. She and her husband founded Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation that was aimed toward global health, global development and education in the US and elsewhere. This extraordinary woman dedicated most of her life helping others but she had a really neat approach to philanthropy – research with extensive information and then acting upon those. In past years Melinda dedicated her strength to provide contraception to poor women all around the world and she donated over $1 billion to this cause.
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Oprah Winfrey
Oprah is probably most famous for her show the Oprah Show. But this is only a half of the coin that is Oprah Winfrey. This woman is also a great person who devoted her time, life and money to help young girls get a higher education. Her foundation called Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation is the number one when it comes to achieving higher knowledge and education since every girl in South Africa that graduated from this academy went on to pursue a university degree.
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Lyda Hill
This woman is an American investor and philanthropist who did everything by the book and made mind-blowing results. She started her travel agency, brought it up and sold then became President of Seven Falls and joined one of the exclusive organisations where she was the first woman there – Young Presidents’ Organization. She heavily invests in nature, science, community and empowering non-profit organisations all around the world and their credo is that „science is the answer”.
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Olajumoke Adenowo
Olajumoke is an African architect, or as they like to call her „Starchitect” who bears multiple award-winning projects and has completed over 710 buildings in her life, from start to finish. She has founded AD Consulting, founded and ran Advantage Energy and Awesome Treasures which is a famous intercontinental philanthropy foundation that is recognized by the United Nations and is a part of the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation Family Philanthropy platform. This foundation has a clear task ahead and it is to raise over 1000 leaders by 2030.
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Lola Karimova
This Uzbek diplomat and philanthropist are truly and extraordinary women. She has her business, aside from being Uzbekistan’s Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, she has a successful marriage and an awesome foundation called You Are Not Alone Foundation. She has committed her time and money to help improve the lives of abandoned and orphaned children, and she is managing to do so by providing them with high standards of care and opportunities for a better life through bigger and better education as well as skill achievement. She has a goal of all those children growing up in a loving and caring environment to help unlock their full potential towards better life and education.
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Priscilla Chan
You know her as the wife of Facebook mogul Mark Zuckenberg, but Priscilla is much more than that. This incredible woman is a paediatrician and a person who pledged, along with her husband, to share 99% of their Facebook shares which were valued at $45 billion when they started the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in December 2015. This initiative revolves around something incredible and it is to help cure, prevent and manage all diseases in our children’s lifetime. A pretty big and bold task but with her desire and flame towards this cause that will be enough for us to know it will be done.
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Liya Kebede
Liya is a diverse woman. She is an Ethiopian-born model but she is also a maternal health advocate, clothing designer, and actress. This incredible woman started her foundation called the Liya Kebede Foundation back in 2005 and her task is to improve the lives of women across Africa by providing everything you need for life-saving maternity care.
So as you can see there is a lot more to philanthropy than old men and their big pockets. As we already said it helps a lot to have financial means to help you achieve your goals easier but sometimes you need to involve yourself personally and that is the thing that these women have done, bringing the notion of philanthropy to another level.
